I rise to speak on the budget reply motion. There are a lot of things in the 2019–20 budget that I would like to refer to, and in doing so many of them are flow‑ons from the previous budget. First of all, just to articulate what we found in the budget that was particularly relevant to my electorate, I was pleased to see $7 million towards a fish hatchery in Shepparton. This is for the development of Murray cod to go back into our rivers and streams to improve our environments, but it is also part of the Target One Million fishing project of the state government. While there are now plans being put together to build this fishery in the area of Shepparton, I am seeing this as also creating an opportunity to expand our tourism, so it is very important that we build into this native fishery project the opportunity for tourists to go through and see it. In Narrandera in New South Wales there is an extraordinary fish hatchery that has been established with a wonderful interpretive centre and other facilities around it that really make great opportunities available for education purposes and for tourism.

In the last Parliament $170 million was allocated to stage 1 of the redevelopment of Goulburn Valley Health. Stage 1 is well underway and the top floor of the tower will be going on very shortly. Two million dollars was allocated in this budget for the intensive planning for stage 2 of Goulburn Valley Health’s redevelopment. That is a very important part of the rolling out of health services in our region which will meet the needs of our community into the future, including upgrades to a whole range of the cancer services available to us in Shepparton.

Asbestos in our schools remains a problem, and I was pleased to see that Nathalia Secondary College has been allocated $1.8 million to deal with what is happening in that secondary college. Shepparton will share in a $5 million commitment towards seven regional basketball hubs. In an area where health issues are challenging, particularly obesity in many regional areas—and Shepparton is very much a part of that—anything that promotes sport and opportunities is welcome by way of investment.

We have the Dookie agricultural college located in our area, a very longstanding asset that has been used for many generations for young people to undertake their agricultural college studies. While it had a bit of a downtime, Melbourne University is reinvesting in the Dookie Agricultural College, and it is now seeing more students there all the time. There has been $6 million allocated for Dookie to share with two other regional campuses for accommodation and other developments on its campus. In talking about previous major commitments, a lot of the budgetary announcements of the past are currently being rolled out.

Shepparton rail has achieved $356 million in funding. Stage 1, which was the stabling and some works around the Shepparton railway station, have been completed. We now have our fifth service and numerous additional bus services running between Shepparton and Seymour and in some cases Shepparton and Melbourne. At the moment the planning is well underway to commence stage 2. I have called on the government to roll stages 2 and 3 together. Stage 2 is a whole lot of work that will involve lengthening platforms at a range of stations between Shepparton and Seymour. There are many level crossings that need signalling, removing or addressing in some way. But importantly the track work needs to be done to make these tracks ready for VLocity trains and it looks like that is stage 3. It is why I say to the government: roll stages 2 and 3 together; get them done together so that at that point we will actually be ready to put up to nine VLocity trains a day between Shepparton and Melbourne on that line. 

The Shepparton education plan was allocated $21 million in the previous budget, and that project is now rolling out. Of course it will need substantially more funding because this is seeing a major transformation of secondary education in our region, bringing together the four secondary colleges in Shepparton and Mooroopna onto one campus. It is a model of nine schools, with 300 children in each school, all on one campus, with all other facilities—STEM, performing arts and physical education facilities all on the one campus. So it is three schools in a neighbourhood—each school, 300 students. This has been designed as a way to better attend to the needs of young people in smaller environments but still having them together on a much larger campus where the benefit of having all of the resources on one campus is actually available. There will be a high emphasis on wellbeing for students. Unfortunately there has been a push probably in the last month to six weeks of people pushing back on this. I fear that this is party driven. During the last election campaign the National Party used the notion of our super-school as a negative and alleged that there had not been sufficient consultation and that it was not necessarily the best solution. This was a community-driven project. All school councils were on board. All principles are on board. Families are so excited to see that there is the prospect of an education system with all the physical facilities encompassed in it to really provide for young people into the future. It is also going to be located on the old Shepparton High School site, which is part of an education precinct within walking distance of LaTrobe University and within walking distance of the existing TAFE college. So there is an opportunity for that integration of those educational services to be on that one precinct and to really take advantage of it. It will cut away so much of the bussing that our young students have had to do to get access to facilities. To do specialist maths you had to get a bus to Bendigo. To do physics you had to get on a bus and go to another school. You could not do geography. You could not do Australian history. There was not even agriculture and horticulture being taught at a VCE level in Shepparton, and this is the heart of agriculture and horticulture, a region that is just so well-known for it. So I am really hopeful that the community will get behind seeing that this is an enormous opportunity for young people and will provide outcomes that will be outstanding, particularly given that no other options were ever put forward and those opposing it still have no other plans that might in any way be better. Unfortunately sometimes with consultations people do not bother to take the opportunity to become involved but become concerned once the decision has been made. There are many meetings being held in our region, and I would urge everyone to take their concerns to their schools, to their principals and to the new executive principal so they can have any concerns they might have allayed.

The rollout of three-year-old kindergarten will be a terrific initiative and will eventually come to our area—a major regional area that has significant disadvantage, and there is no doubt that all the studies show investing in early childhood is the best and the most important way to spend your dollar. Part of the Shepparton education plan is the building of an integrated early childhood centre at Mooroopna Primary School. Now, this is in a very disadvantaged area. We have been to visit Doveton College. We have looked at the model there that seems to be working really well. We will be looking at adopting that hub notion, where young families will come for their maternal and child health service, their three-year-old kindergarten and their four-year-old kindergarten playgroups and then flow on into the primary school setting. That will be built within the next 12 months and be underway. So that investment in early childhood is really the first investment that will be up and going and operating under the Shepparton education plan, but it was felt that the investment had to go into the secondary colleges because of the neglect of those colleges for so very long and the deterioration in the outcomes in those four schools.

The further reduction in payroll tax is a really important business initiative in regions, and so many business people in my area have welcomed year after year in the budgets the reductions that have taken place and continue to take place. I believe that while we are seeing a lot of government investment in the Shepparton district and the flow-on benefits from that, it is not only government investments that are happening, because when you get that critical mass of energy and work going on in a town the flow-on effects are that new businesses are opening to support these developments. A range of new commercial enterprises are opening, and people are really talking about the fact that Shepparton is really buzzing.

Unfortunately that leads me to an issue which is not entirely budget-related. It is very distressing to live in a community where your major regional centre is doing well but the community around it—the farming community—is in crisis. The dairy industry is a fundamental part of our community. Since 2000 we have lost 59 per cent of our dairy farmers. We have lost 48 per cent of our milk production. We have some of the major milk processors located in our region, who are now struggling to get the supply that they need to produce the goods that they want to for local consumption but also for export. Nobody has come up with a solution for what to do about the dairy industry, but a very significant part of that in our region relates to access to water. While there has been a drought right along the eastern seaboard, there is something else going on, and it is something more sinister, and it relates to the fact that we have water speculators in our market. At least 7 per cent of water now out there in the free trade in water is owned by speculators, and it is alleged that they are manipulating the market. So if ever we needed transparency it is now, and it is very important that we come to some sort of decision about what that transparency is—what it looks like. We want to know where the farmers are, we want to know what water our neighbours own, when they are selling it and who they are selling it to. We want to know what speculators are there. We want a situation where water in our region is used for food production, not manipulated and used in other ways. So while this is not entirely a budgetary issue, it is certainly a major issue for our whole northern Victoria region.

Just in the last moment I will have right now I want to talk about our Fairley Leadership program, and regional leadership programs are really important. There was no particular line in the budget about the future of funding of these programs, although I am assured Regional Development Victoria will continue funding for the next 12 months and we will be looking to see what funding will be available. They are looking at how they have been operating and what they will do in the future. I cannot commend these organisations enough for the work that they do in developing local leadership. You would not find a board or a committee in my region that did not have a fellow of a leadership program on it, so it is really investing in the public capital of our region to continue these regional leadership programs throughout the region.

The SPEAKER: Order! The time set down for consideration of items on the government business program has arrived and I am required to interrupt business. The member will be able to continue her contribution when the matter is next before the Chair.

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Government Business Program – I appreciate having the opportunity to speak on this matter. I will be supporting the government business program because I do not see that the issue of lack of opportunity to speak in this place actually creates a reason to oppose the government business program.

There are four important bills that need to be discussed, but there is definitely an issue around the lack of opportunity for those who are Independent members. The National Party has six members and the Liberal Party is now a smaller group. It is difficult at times to get to your feet and say things. There was a time when in this Parliament there was general business and that generally took place on Wednesday mornings, sometimes I think for up to half a day.

I know I have had discussions with the government at times about reintroducing general business so that those of us in the Parliament more broadly who want the opportunity to speak on matters could do so and so motions such as that put forward by the member for South-West Coast might also be debated more openly. 

There are many issues in our electorates that warrant much more airing than we get the opportunity to give them in this place, and while we need to debate the bills I think there are times when it is pretty clear that there is insufficient time to canvass other issues. The issue of water in my electorate and right across northern Victoria is a major issue that rarely gets any mention in this place. Often there are missed opportunities to advocate for our community in relation to the impact of the Murray Darling Basin plan and the very devastating effects of the removal of water in northern Victoria. When you couple that with the price of water, the lack of transparency in the water trade, the drought on the whole eastern seaboard and a combination of issues that are having devastating effects in regional areas this needs to be debated.

There is absolutely a very sound argument for reintroducing general business into this house, as it used to be. I have found very little support for that on this side of the house in the past, but given the situation we find ourselves in now perhaps there might be more of an inclination to support working towards a situation where we do have some general business in this place. I would urge the government to raise this matter and perhaps refer it to the Standing Orders Committee as a genuine and valid issue to be debated before that committee with hopefully a recommendation to come back to this place.

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Question without Notice – My question is for the Premier. The Shepparton education plan is underway and was allocated funding of $20.5 million in last year’s budget. A further $100 million will be required to build a regional college, merging four secondary schools into one campus comprising nine schools of 300 students each. It is a transformational plan, and it will see all young people in the state education system leave school with a pathway and a vision for the future. But some constituents in my region are concerned that there was no further funding in this year’s budget and they are anxious to know that the progress of the plan will continue. So, Premier, will you commit to funding the Shepparton education plan, and when can my constituents expect to see this commitment fulfilled?

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Supplementary Question without Notice – Thank you, Premier. As you know, the Shepparton district has received substantial investment over the last four budgets and many of the major projects are now underway. I ask: will you come to Shepparton to see for yourself the transformation that is taking place, but also to meet with students, teachers and other constituents in my electorate who really want to see the Shepparton education plan reach its fruition by the due date of 2021?

There are a number of things that were raised with the minister, and we will continue to raise them to ensure that the new Shepparton fire station is a state-of-the-art building with all the resources it needs, but that it also incorporates the volunteers. Shepparton is the size of city that needs volunteers as well. The paid firefighters in the Shepparton district are not able to do everything, so they will be called out when there is a fire. They are relied on constantly, and their trucks, their equipment and their volunteers will be used as needed. They have been able to work through that for quite a long time, and I have trust that they will continue to do so. As I say, if problems arise, then I will be the first to be knocking on the minister’s door about it. I have to also say that this Andrews Labor government won the election with a resounding victory, and this was an issue at the election. I cannot see that they have anything but a mandate to do what they are doing here, and that is what they are doing. In the upper house they have also got an increased majority, and they will be doing what they want to do. That is the reality of it. They have the mandate to do it.

It is my position to take a much more collaborative approach and to try to achieve better outcomes than to try to whip up angst and anxiety in our CFA stations around the region, which has been happening now for years and which has served no good purpose, because here we are: the bill will be passed, it will become law and we will need to look after and protect our volunteers. One of the other things I would really like to see in the Shepparton district is much more diversity introduced into the CFA to achieve opportunities for many in our multicultural community and other members of the community, because let us face it, it has been a long-term male-dominated volunteer force, and there is great opportunity for more diversity, for more women coming in, and of course to incorporate more of our multicultural community. I am sure there is an appetite for that, and indeed our volunteers would welcome recruiting any new volunteers. That is always something that is on the agenda. We know that throughout regional Victoria, and probably in the cities as well, volunteerism is not growing. It is very difficult to achieve the number of volunteers you need across a whole range of areas, and the CFA will be no different. So for them to open their arms more broadly to embrace a bit more diversity may well lead to a situation where people feel that they will be welcome to act as volunteers and join in.

The presumptive rights aspect of this legislation is also a critical issue and one that has now been delayed for so long, and while it has been backdated—and that is terrific—there have been so many people who have waited with, I do not doubt, major health issues and again a lot of anxiety around where they might stand. So it will be a welcome passage of that aspect of the legislation. I have spoken about the Shepparton district and its position. I say no more at this time other than that I am concerned about the way the bill is being handled in this house. I am concerned that people should have the ability to speak on it. This is a representative democracy. Everyone should have the right to have their say and, ideally, more time to take this back to their electorates.

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Government Business Program – This is not an issue about the two bills that are before the house in terms of their content. This is a procedural issue. I oppose the government’s business program for the reason that it is inappropriate to behave in this way. Now, this is representative government, and to represent our constituents they are entitled, we are entitled—everyone here is entitled—to see the bill that is before the house and to consult on it. Now, proceeding in this way does not give us the opportunity to do that. I think it is a great mistake to push through these two bills in the way that is being proposed today.

We know that it is a better bill than the bill that went through this house some time ago, because we have been told that most of the amendments were adopted that were negotiated by this party, by the opposition. So we understand that it may well be a better bill, but we have not seen it. We have not had the opportunity to take it back to anyone. I think the mistake in this is to think it is really about the CFA or about the disability legislation in itself. We know about the disgraceful behaviour on Good Friday, but two wrongs do not make a right, and to proceed now with both these bills in this way is effectively putting yourself in the same category. I would urge the government to reconsider on that basis, because it is not appropriate that we simply be asked to vote on legislation that has not been seen. 

So what are the volunteers saying out there? I think the other mistake is to think that many people are very supportive of this legislation because of many of the amendments that we understand were adopted in the other place. I know at the Shepparton station, 17 out of 18 volunteers have voted to stay in the integrated station with the paid firefighters. Things have moved on. People are taking a different view to it. So politics aside, this is about what is appropriate behaviour in this place, and a government that has won so resoundingly in the last election does not need to put itself in a position where it has to manipulate or push through legislation. It will get this legislation through—we all know that—but surely the process ought to be properly adopted so that people are able to have time to see the legislation, to see what the amendments are, to understand what they are and to ensure that proper debate takes place on it. There are members in this house who did not see the bill last time, so it is not right to say that we have all seen it before. We have not. The member for Mildura will not have seen it. She may take a different view to the previous member for Mildura. There are other members in this house who will not be familiar with this legislation, and so the appropriate course is to allow it to sit on the floor of the house for the two weeks in the usual fashion. 

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